IN BRIEF:

ICC, BCCI, players condole Dungarpur's death

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Dubai/Mumbai, Sep 12 (PTI),

Sep 12 2009, 17:50pm ist

updated: Sep 12 2009, 17:50pm ist

In a condolence message, ICC President David Morgan and CEO Haroon Lorgat paid tribute to the former cricket administrator, describing him as a man of extraordinary talent."Raj Singh Dungarpur was an extraordinary person with extraordinary talent and ability. He was an institution from which plenty of stars have graduated," the condolence message read.Affectionately called as 'Rajbhai' in the cricket fraternity, the 73-year-old Dungarpur, who was president of the Cricket Board for three years in the late 1990s, was suffering from Alzheimer's disease.A bachelor from the Dungarpur royal family of Rajasthan, he was also a former first class cricketer, a former India team manager and ex-chairman of the senior selection panel.A former president of the Cricket Club of India for 13 years before he took ill last year, Dungarpur died at his residence this morning.

Great loss for Indian cricket: BCCICondoling the death of his predecessor Raj Singh Dungarpur here today, Cricket Board President Shashank Manohar termed it as a great loss for the game in the country.

"It is a great loss to Indian cricket. Rajbhai served Indian cricket diligently and with distinction, in several capacities. He was a self-effacing individual who always put the sport, and Indian cricket in particular, above everything else," Manohar said in a statement.BCCI secretary N Srinivasan recalled how Raj Singh, as the chief selector, picked champion batsman Sachin Tendulkar at the tender age of 16 on the tough tour of Pakistan in 1989-90."He had several stints as national selector, and headed the All-India Selection Committee in the late 1980s. As chairman, he was instrumental in defying skeptics and picking a 16-year-old boy for India's tour of Pakistan in 1989-90. The boy has since become a legend," the BCCI secretary said.

Srinivasan also lauded Dungarpur for his vision in creating the Bangalore-based National Cricket Academy.

Describing Dungarpur as an "encyclopedia on cricket", Srinivasan said the cricketer-turned-administrator "went out of his way to encourage junior cricketers and even cricket writers."

A passionate cricket lover, says VengsarkarFormer India captain Dilip Vengsarkar today paid tribute to Raj Singh Dungarpur, saying he was yet to meet a more passionate cricket lover than the ex-Cricket Board chief."I am yet to come across a more passionate cricket lover than Rajbhai who breathed and ate cricket," said Vengsarkar.

"I was a member of the teams to Pakistan and England (1984-85, 1986) when he was the manager. He was hugely popular in those places, especially at Lord's which he used to visit regularly," Vengsarkar said.

"He was also an able administrator who did everything for the betterment of cricket. He loved the cricketers' company," he added.Another former Test stalwart, Bapu Nadkarni, termed Dungarpur's death as a personal loss. "He was a dear friend of mine and Polly (Umrigar)," he said.

Nadkarni said towards the end he could not bear to see Raj Singh battling his illness. "I could not bear to see him at the Bombay Hospital," he said.

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